Calgary

Calgary is a city in Canada. It is in a part of the country called Alberta.

Two rivers, the Bow and the Elbow, meet in Calgary.

Calgary lies in the province of Alberta, in western Canada, less than 100 kilometers from the Canadian Rockies. Universalis calls it one of Alberta's two economic centers, together with Edmonton, the provincial capital.

At the start of 2025 about 1,612,834 people lived in the city of Calgary, according to an official estimate listed by City Population. That makes it the largest city in Alberta. Universalis says the wider Calgary metropolitan area had more than 1.48 million people in 2021 and is the fifth-largest urban center in Canada.

Universalis: less than 100 km from the Canadian Rockies; with Edmonton (the provincial capital) one of Alberta's two economic centers; a metropolitan region of more than 1.48 million inhabitants in 2021, which dominates southern Alberta and is the fifth urban center of Canada.

City Population (from Statistics Canada and the Province of Alberta), city of Calgary: 929,934 (estimate, 1 July 2002), 1,053,086 (2007), 1,170,624 (2012), 1,289,970 (2017), 1,395,672 (2022) and 1,612,834 (estimate, 1 January 2025), rank 1 in Alberta, ahead of Edmonton (1,238,295).

Look at the arena's roof! It dips down in the middle and curves up at the ends. Behind it stand tall towers and a tower with a red top.

This photo shows Calgary on 18 January 2006, on a clear winter day. In front is the Saddledome, an indoor arena whose roof dips down in the middle and curves up at both ends. Wikidata says it opened in 1983.

Behind the arena rise the office towers of downtown. The thin tower with a red and white top is the Calgary Tower, an observation tower that opened on 30 June 1968. The photo is from 2006, so today's skyline may look different.

Commons: own work by Gorgo, dated 18 January 2006 by the photographer, public domain; the caption reads 'Calgary skyline and Pengrowth Saddledome'. The photographer re-uploaded a cropped and color-corrected version in 2007; the camera position is recorded about 1.75 km south-southeast of the city's Wikidata point, looking northwest.

In the picture: the arena's curved roof and red stair towers, a yellow covered walkway at left, lamp posts and a parking area in the foreground, and downtown towers with the Calgary Tower behind. Wikidata: Calgary Tower, observation tower, opened 30 June 1968; Scotiabank Saddledome, indoor arena, opened 1983.

Many families in Calgary came from other countries. You can hear lots of different languages there.

Calgary grew in the 20th century first through farming, transport and building, and then through energy, Universalis says, after gas and oil were found in the south of Alberta, around East Calgary, Bow Island and Turner Valley.

People came to Calgary from many parts of the world. Universalis says 60% of the people living there can be counted as immigrants or the children of immigrants, and languages such as Punjabi, Tagalog, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish and Arabic are spoken there.

Universalis: strong 20th-century growth driven first by agriculture, transport and construction, then by energy, with the discovery of gas and oil fields in the south of the province, notably around East Calgary, Bow Island and Turner Valley. Immigration diversified, first with Chinese and Western European people, then from all of Europe; today 60% of Calgarians can be counted as first- or second-generation immigrants, with recent communities from South and East Asia, Africa and the Middle East, reflected in non-official languages (Punjabi, Tagalog, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic and others). Universalis calls the Indigenous population (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) especially dynamic.